“Lordship” Up for Grabs?

That’s the thing about staring over the edge of a cliff; eventually, if you don’t pull back, you plunge right over. That’s how the faithful must have felt in the May 10 meeting when the Presbytery of Twin Cities Area voted to replace its mandate that all ministers, elders, and deacons live in “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” and instead hold them to a loosely worded “wink, wink, nod, nod” suggestion that they “submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life.”

What this does, effectively, is allow each congregation to decide for itself what “Lordship” means. The conservative congregations can have a straight, married minister, while the more progressive, hip-hop-happenin’ congregations can go with a homosexual minister. or a minister who’s into the bondage scene. or a minister who’s both homosexual and into the bondage scene like the one they have over at one of those “metropolitan” churches. Hey, the sky’s the limit, right?

But let’s be honest. At the core, this is not about whether or not a church can have a minister who is divorced, or involved in adultery or homosexuality. At the end of the day, this is about God and who He is. And the huge, wildly enormous problem isn’t the homosexuals. It’s us. all of us.

Pick up the Bible and read it — the whole thing. You will see a God of judgment and punishment, but you will also see, by and large, a God of incredible mercy and forgiveness. And you can’t have the latter without the former.

“God hates fags”? Not for a moment. We’re all enemies of God — fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, coveters, drunkards, revilers, extortionists — who will not inherit God’s kingdom except by His saving grace and mercy. And that’s the good news, not that we’re hell-bound sinners, but that God is willing to save us. God doesn’t want anyone to suffer an eternity in Hell — and yes, Rob Bell, there is a Hell. God’s desire is for all to repent and see His Kingdom. And that means homosexuals, too? Sure. That’s why God says, “whoever” in John 3:16.

Does God accept homosexual ministers? Wrong question. Does he accept sin and sinful behavior in his ministers? No. Absolutely not. Never, ever. Why? Because God expects 100 percent devotion from those who serve Him. And when we jettison His hatred of sin and cozy up to His love and mercy as an excuse to serve Him and serve ourselves at the same time, we turn Him into something He’s not, and we effectively create — in our own minds and hearts — a false god.

John the Baptist had the right idea when he said of Christ, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” God is God, and Jesus is Lord. Let us not define that by our own worldly weak opinions. Let us search the Scriptures and allow God to define Himself. And then, let us abide by that.